Music

With Allentown Fair opening its 173rd year today, music critic John J. Moser has 25 years of reviewing grandstand shows behind him. These are the best he's seen, ranked in order.

Heart will perform a grandstand show at 7 p.m. Aug. 27 on the opening night of Allentown Fair. Tickets remain available.

The new Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Regional Music Awards has an official website, and is taking nominations for its first ceremony later this year.

The Struts performed Wednesday night at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks. The focus of the concert was a celebration of the 10th anniversary U.S. release of their debut album, "Everybody Wants."

Cheap Trick, which had its first hit with “Surrender” in 1978 and 10 years later had its biggest hit with “The Flame,” will perform Oct. 22. And Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, with his Led Zeppelin Evening will perform Nov. 15.

The Struts stop at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks for a paid-ticket show in which it will play the entire album, as well as other songs.

Emblem3, best known for the 2013 song "Chloe (You're the One I Want)," will perform in Archer's Arrow room at 7 p.m. Nov. 14, it was announced.

Neko Case, who has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and also is a member of the high-charting Canadian power pop super group The New Pornographers, will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 17.

Singer Gladys Knight, who from 1967 to 1991 had nearly three-dozen Top 10 hits in the soul and R&B charts, will perform at Wind Creek Event Center at 8 p.m. Dec. 4. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 15.

Here's a breakdown of our rankings for the best main Steel Stage shows for the 11 nights of Musikfest 2025 in Bethlehem.

Colombian band Grupo Niche, whose album "Cielo De Tambores" hit No. 3 on that chart, will perform at 6 p.m. July 30, as a preview night for the festival, which will run July 31-Aug. 9.

Listen to the Dissonance will return for a third year Friday, Feb. 27, at Charles A. Brown Ice House at 56 River St., Bethlehem. Performers will be vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Judah Kim, singer-songwriter Clover, songwriter-producer Barney Cortez and Nashville-based songwriter Patty PerShayla.

Rapper Freddie Gibbs will perform at Allentown's Archer Music Hall at 7 p.m. June 4, it was announced. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6.

Buckcherry, known best for its 2006 quadruple-platinum hit "Crazy Bitch" and 2007's double-platinum "Sorry," says on its website that it will perform at Allentown's Archer Music Hall on May 19.

Everclear, the Portland, Oregon, band best known for its Alt-chart-topping hits "Santa Monica" and "Everything to Everyone," will perform Thursday, June 18, in Musikfest Cafe.

Unlike last year, when she won Best Pop Solo Performance for "Espresso," and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Short n' Sweet," Sabrina Carpenter went home empty-handed on Sunday.

Lehigh Valley native Sabrina Carpenter (shown performing at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center in 2024), is nominated in six categories at Sunday's Grammy Awards. She has a chance to tie or break five Grammy records.

Modest Mouse, whose 2007 album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” topped the chart and went gold, will perform at 7 p.m. June 6.

Toad The Wet Sprocket, who from 1989-97 had eight Top 25 hits on various charts, will perform at 7 p.m. July 12, ArtsQuest announced Monday.

Cameron Whitcomb, whose songs "Medusa," "Options" and "Hundred Mile High" have hit that chart, has been added to the show by country-rock star Hardy at 7 p.m. March 26.

The Menzingers will headline a show at Allentown's Archer Music Hall at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24. Fewer than 100 tickets, at $48.05 for general admission standing, remain available at The Archer website or the venue box office at 939 Hamilton St., Allentown. Elevated seating is nearly sold out.

Luke Bryan, who is among the Top 6 best-selling male country music artists of all time, will perform at PPL Center on Thursday, June 25.